“Organs And Façades, Part 2 – German Fairground Organs, A Personal History”

Tom Meijer translates an article from Jan van Dinteren. When he was young, Jan van Dinteren became impressed with fairground organs. He tells here about becoming “devoted” to those organs. His article illustrates the many different fairground organs built in Germany and France.

“Historic Seaside Heights Carousel Needs Friends Fast”

Rock Hopkins makes a plea that a carousel and its organ be preserved intact rather than sold piece by piece at auction. The amazing part of the Seaside Heights Carousel is that this is not the first, the second, or third, but the fourth time it has come to a difficult juncture in its over 100 year history. They say a cat has nine lives. Let’s hope that a carousel has at least four lives or maybe even emulate the cat with nine!

“Schenevus – Visit The Past…Today”

Susan Germain explains how she worked on the two canvas panels from the carousel maintained and operated by the Schenevus, New York, Fire Department and brought back to life the colors used by the original artisans on the 1900 Armitage Herschell track machine.

Jim and Jackie Shulman, along with Maria Caccaviello, tell the story of how a whole community came together to build the Berkshire carousel. Now they are ready to help others do the same.

“Guinness Spotlight — Precious Smalls”

Michele Marinelli introduces the Guinness Spotlight series in her first article, “Precious Smalls.” The craftsmanship of these makers of fine music and art is out of this world. And even more astonishing is that all of their work on the intricate musical mechanisms was done without the aid of a computer!

“Carousel Dog Carver – Tim Racer”

Anita Wofle sent us the article about Tim Racer for the last issue — the Carvers’ issue. But space prevented its inclusion. Perhaps, fate was on our side, because Tim’s carvings and the Berkshire carvings are the sole examples of contemporary pieces in this issue.